Trust and Responsibility
by twobagelscollide
Summary: Three Pokéfriends are exploring Mt. Coronet to observe the altar of the creation legendaries. Once they reach the top, a visit from Palkia leaves them with new powers. They must be tried as legendaries because their abilities are too powerful to be left alone. To prove that they're worthy of this kind of strength, they must go through trials of trust and responsibility.
1. Proof

**Hello friends! I know that anyone who has read my profile has noticed that Quill and I have a collaboration in the works. Well we are finally ready to post it, and we are very proud of the finished product. The total working time on this was about 3 weeks, even though the idea for the project was conceived a long time ago.**

**If you are coming from Quill's page welcome! But if you see it here first then go give some love to her as well!**

**hi guys ^^;; uhh so yeah, bagel pretty much said it all but i hope you enjoy this story! i know i enjoyed writing it c:  
**

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A light, gold-filled dew lay delicately above the mountain, wreathed with clouds, as the morning sun rose and illuminated the surroundings with a warm red-orange light. The sounds that usually fill the woods were starting to infiltrate the area; soft chirpings and the soothing rustling of alpine winds blowing down from the peak. It was now that three solitary friends were making their way up the base of the legendary Mt. Coronet.

A tall yellow Electric-type, Ampharos, was in the lead. To the right of him trooped a dark-colored Pokémon with long, powerful claws. Although this Sneasel was a bit smaller than others of her species, perhaps, she was still larger than the third member of the party. Recognizable as a Vulpix, but just barely, the tiny Pokémon was a creamy white rather than the coppery color of a normal Vulpix. Her mop of hair, rather than curling above her head, flopped down around her ears. She only had one tail, as if she was newborn, but she had a very adult look in her distinctive eyes- one was a brilliant ruby and the other was black. While the ruby eye was wary and bright, the black one was dull and unseeing.

If any other Pokémon had been around, they might have stared, but the trio was alone as of the moment. Not many took the time to climb Mt. Coronet.

The sunlight that once trickled through the canopy of the trees was now causing a bit of glare as it became brighter and brighter, haloing the edges of the three Pokémons' fur.

"How long till we get there?" Sneasel's voice broke the pristine shell of quiet forest chatter. The Dark-type didn't sound tired, just brightly curious. "I swear, we've been walking _forever!_ And Vulpix looks dead on her feet!" The Dark-type giggled, but it wasn't a mean-spirited giggle. All the same, Vulpix looked hurt.

"I'm fine!" she protested, even though the smaller Pokémon _was_ struggling a little bit to keep up. "I'm just as capable as you are, Sneasel!"

"All right," said Sneasel, looking a bit taken aback. "I was just joking!"

"Come on guys" Ampharos pleaded, sounding a little tired of dealing with these two. He had been acting as the mediator for his friends all morning. Although they had known each other a while, they had never really been alone together as long as this, going on a day-long hiking trip. "It's still gonna be a long time before we reach the top, and it will be a lot easier if you stop arguing every step of the way." he said, with a rather diplomatic tone of voice.

The comment hung in the air for a brief second as everyone took in the resolving statement.

"If Vulpix could just stop taking all my jokes so _seriously-" _Sneasel began, saw Vulpix's face, sighed, and dropped the topic. "Whatever," she said, studiously nonchalant. Vulpix looked away and kept walking.

_Maybe I did take that a bit seriously, _she thought glumly. _After all, I should know by now- Sneasel's always making jokes. And she wouldn't really want to hurt me. Right? _But she couldn't seem to stop herself, she reflected, from reacting so badly to any joke referring to her physical ability. And Sneasel should know that! She was only defending herself.

Anyways, she wouldn't apologize. The small white tinted Vulpix regained her previous posture and the three friends continued up the mountain, following no particular path, but just making sure that they stayed aligned with the hollow opening far above and ahead of them.

Ampharos let out a mental sigh. _Why do they have to make everything we do together so difficult?_ Honestly, he had no idea how the three of them were still friends. Sneasel would set anybody off _once_ in a while, but it seemed that Vulpix really couldn't take the teasing. He looked at both of them, temporarily ignoring each other for the time being_, _and couldn't help but smile to himself, knowing he had another few minutes of silence.

As they ascended the mountain, the air got colder, as the sun had curved around the mountain, cloaking them in shade. It seemed like they had been walking forever and the mountain appeared infinitely high, but they made steady progress toward their goal, a high mountain cave that they believed would lead them to the top.

"So… this thing we're going to find," began Sneasel.

"It's not a thing," said Vulpix, sounding a bit offended at first and then shrinking back a bit as Sneasel shot her a look. "We're looking for Spear Pillar," she offered, a bit nervously. "In legends, it's said that Dialga, Giratina, and Palkia were created here, by Arceus."

"And we're really supposed to believe that?" scoffed Sneasel. "A bunch of old ruins are all they are!"

Vulpix looked shocked, more than casually offended, but made quick work to shrug off the abrasive comment.

"Ruins are cool," Ampharos added helplessly as the moment had already passed.

The trio appeared motivated as they brushed past less-than-lush trees that were beginning appear brittle in some places, as there hasn't been solid rainfall over the past two weeks.

"Don't you believe in legends?" the fragile looking fox asked.

A chilly wind seemed to sweep across the group for a second, tossing dried and recently fallen leaves across their feet.

"Guys, this is the reason we are going there in the first place, so we can find out ourselves!" Ampharos added excitedly, although his enthusiasm wasn't shared by Sneasel.

"Well, I won't believe it till I see it with my own eyes," she declared.

"Do as you please," huffed Vulpix instantly becoming self-conscious of her own issues with sight. She quickly looked away, letting her flop of hair droop across her face; while Sneasel moved on obliviously, Ampharos's worried glance drifted over to Vulpix watching her reaction.

The Electric-type felt like they were completely ignoring him. "This is supposed to be fun, right?" He waited for a seemingly nonexistent reaction.

"Yeah! Fun!" said Sneasel, rolling her eyes. "Fun means not taking things too seriously!"

Vulpix only sighed and looked away, which somehow made Sneasel feel worse than if she had lashed out again.

Tension radiated outward from the offended fox, feeling as if it was sinking into the rough tree bark around them, making it seem like the trees needed to give her more space.

"Look, I didn't mean…" she began, then trailed off. _Never mind. There's just no winning with that girl. _she thought.

Ampharos contemplated his next move, trying, as always, to empathize with Vulpix. "So, uhhh, tell us about those legends," he tried, since Vulpix had seemed to be a bit more enthusiastic about them.

Vulpix looked up in surprise, her timid ruby eye blinking nervously, obviously not used to being asked to talk. Sneasel rolled her eyes, but stayed quiet, for once.

The quadruped paused a moment and stared absently at the peak of the mountain they were climbing, which was now cloaked with a dense layer of fog.

"The tunnels through the mountain lead to the very top," she said, pointing with her tiny paw to the distant peak of Mt. Coronet. "That's Spear Pillar. It's said that Spear Pillar was the place that the creation trio Palkia, Dialga and Giratina were said to reside at one point." Her ruby-red eye held a new wistfulness as she gazed up at the peak, although her black one remained cold as always. "But even though it was beautiful once, humans, pollution and gradual disinterest in the legends caused them to abandon the place. Now it is just a pile of ruins…" She hesitated. "No, a landmark and trial for Pokémon everywhere to visit at their own risk..."

Vulpix's voice had taken on the slightly mystical air of a storyteller. "The part of the story that most Pokémon don't know is this." Even Sneasel was interested now, although she did her best not to show it.

"One day," said Vulpix, "one of the three will come back."

"Which one?" Sneasel asked, before she could stop herself. "Just curious," she added quickly, in a failed attempt to obscure her interest.

"Nobody knows," said Vulpix. "But someday one of them will come back. And they'll heal Spear Pillar. It will be beautiful again." Her voice faded away a bit, and she looked around, worried that she had run away with herself. "I didn't mean to talk too much," she said sheepishly.

Ampharos stopped and stood, awestruck. "Are you kidding? That was excellent storytelling! Why don't you share what's on your mind more often?" The Electric-type beamed enthusiastically, with a hint of encouragement. So _that_ was what happened when Vulpix opened up! He wondered where Vulpix had found the last bit out. He hadn't heard that version before.

"Yeah, that was a pretty good story," admitted Sneasel. "Although it is _just _a story."

Vulpix smiled hesitantly, the expression fairly unfamiliar on her face.

"Thanks," she said, glancing at Sneasel before meeting Ampharos's eyes. "I dunno… I guess I just thought most of my ideas were stupid." She felt warmth inside her chest, forgetting about how tired she was.

"And just who gave you that idea?" Although Ampharos seemed to ask the question rhetorically, he was staring directly at Sneasel as he said it. Sneasel glared back for a split second before staring at the ground.

"I dunno," said Vulpix again, not catching the look that passed between her two companions. "I guess I just…" ..._thought that a crippled Pokémon's thoughts might not be worth as much. _"I dunno," she finished awkwardly.

"That's the third time you've said 'I dunno'!" laughed Sneasel.

Now it was Ampharos's turn to roll his eyes. He knew this nice moment wouldn't last long.

"Well, I'm sorry," snapped Vulpix, one red eye glaring at Sneasel.

"What? What did I say?" said Sneasel, annoyed.

"Nothing." huffed Vulpix, turning away. "Just… nothing."

Ampharos leaned over and gave Sneasel an are-you-kidding-me look accompanied by an I-mean-business slap to the back of the head while Vulpix wasn't looking. This caused the end of _that_ emotional roller coaster of a conversation.

_It's always like this, _thought Ampharos. _If they're not flat-out fighting, they're giving each other the cold shoulder. _He gave a barely perceptible sigh. _But all the same… it seems that they really care for each other, deep down. Otherwise, why would we still be friends? After all this time? _He himself would prefer never to fight with his friends. _Maybe it'll get better in time. For now… let's focus on reaching the top! _His thoughts turned to the exciting ruins awaiting them.

As they progressed the terrain got more treacherous and steep. Harder and larger rocks became more frequent. Tripping was difficult to avoid for the abnormally small quadruped, which caused her friends to wait for greater and greater amounts of time while she maneuvered the complicated arrangement of rocks.

Ampharos could not help but feel pity for his friend. "Want to hitch a ride?" the tall Pokémon offered. Many times before, he had given the small white Vulpix a piggyback ride because of her disadvantageous stature, although that had been when both were younger and Vulpix's pride had been less sensitive. Lately, the small Pokémon had seemed to get more defensive, rather than less as time went on.

Vulpix was panting. "...Okay," she finally said, stopping and looking at Sneasel as if daring her to say anything. The Dark-type kept quiet. Vulpix's pride was, as usual, a bit hurt at accepting help from her taller friend, but she didn't want to keep the other two members of the party waiting. They had wanted to reach the peak sometime during the day, and Vulpix didn't much fancy the idea of having to camp out overnight.

Not much was said by the party as they neared their destination. However there was an almost vertical cliff of about eight feet separating them from the mouth of the cave.

Sneasel crouched down and hopped up onto the steep ledge easily.

"C'mon!" she yelled back, her voice echoing off of the mountain as she peered down. "It's so cool up here!" the almost sheer cliff wasn't smooth but there were no visible cracks that Ampharos could grab onto easily.

"Don't go off without us!" yelped Vulpix, an irrational fear of being abandoned cropping up suddenly, amplified by the fact that she would not be able to proceed without help.

"Don't worry," said Sneasel, giggling as she balanced along the edge fearlessly, and confidently. The now orange clouds behind her created a portrait-esque silhouette, as the light also gleamed gently off of her claws tinting them beautifully.

Ampharos put Vulpix down gently and got ready to attempt to scale the wall using the jutting rocks just a few feet away. A sudden impulse caught him and he looked back at his small incapable friend. "Do you need help getting up?" he asked anxiously.

"No," replied Vulpix stubbornly. "I'm fine! You go ahead!" she insisted.

Ampharos reached the top in a few good climbing strokes and was given a final helping hand by Sneasel. As the two relaxed they then turned to watch from the top as the white Vulpix looked anxiously at her immediate surroundings trying to devise a plan.

It was all just a little too big for her, but she gave an honest attempt anyway.

And another.

And another.

"Ugh!" With a last gasp, she slid down the wall and collapsed on the ground while Sneasel and Ampharos watched, not sure whether to try and help her or not.

"You sure you don't need a claw up?" called Sneasel.

"Yeah!" snapped back Vulpix, struggling to her feet again. _I'm not going to rely on them!_

Sneasel raised her eyebrows, glancing at Ampharos. Ampharos gave her a "do-it-anyway" glance, that sneasel protested with an "are-you-serious?" facial expression.

The electric type inched closer "Well, I'm not the one who can jump eight feet in one leap." Ampharos whispered and nudged the Dark-type with his elbow when he saw that Sneasel expected him to go down and get her. The Electric-type gestured down to the defeated looking Vulpix. Sneasel sighed.

"You know it's me she's going to hate for it," the smaller Pokémon muttered. However, she jumped easily down from the cliff, landing beside Vulpix.

The fox waved the small dust cloud out of her face that the impact caused,"What are you doing?" the Fire-type asked Sneasel defensively.

"Helping you be less stupid," replied Sneasel coolly, sweeping Vulpix up with one of her long claws before effortlessly leaping back up to Ampharos.

"I d-didn't need that," choked Vulpix, although it was obviously a lie. The tiny Pokémon crumpled to the ground, breathing heavily.

Ampharos smiled genuinely. "You know, Sneasel was only helping you. You could say thanks… I bet she would appreciate it." He did his best to make it sound as if he hadn't prompted Sneasel to do it. Trying to make these two see eye to eye was impossible… no pun intended, but he had to start _somewhere._

Regardless, there was a long tense pause, "It was nothing," said Sneasel, a little uncomfortably.

"...Thanks," said Vulpix, sounding like the word was acid coming from her mouth.

Ampharos internally cheered at the mini victory, hoping it would last.

"Well, you're certainly grateful," remarked Sneasel in irritation.

And then the Electric-type realised that he might have made them take one step forward, two steps back.

"I said _thanks_, didn't I?" retorted Vulpix, obviously having recovered enough to be snappish. The white, unimposing fox stood up eye to eye with Sneasel, who was squinting slightly- as if to dare her to move.

Ampharos nervously sat in the middle of the argument and watched fire and ice collide as thier gazes met with violent intensity.

"Certainly wasn't _much _of one," snarled Sneasel, changing her stance and clearly anticipating an attack.

Biting his lip nervously, Ampharos tried to position himself in the middle of the argument. "But it _was_ one!" interjected the optimistic Electric-type, although they completely ignored him.

"What were you expecting!" shouted Vulpix. "I didn't ask you to do that!" Sticking her one tail up in the air, the Fire-type countered her opponent's stance, equally ready for whatever happened next.

Sneasel paused, seemingly making a decision in her mind "No, Ampharos did," said Sneasel coldly, shooting a glare at the Electric-type who sighed, knowing nothing good ever came of his decisions- no matter how hard he tried.

Vulpix immediately quieted down, the tips of her ears reddening as she fixed her eyes on Ampharos as well.

The Electric type gulped. As the argument had now shifted its focus to him, a new topic was desperately needed. "I did… but…" He glanced around. "What about this cave? Pretty cool, huh? Let's go inside!" He shuffled nervously toward the cave, desperately hoping the two would drop it.

Sneasel shot Vulpix a final furious look before stalking inside, passing Ampharos and Vulpix and not waiting up.

Vulpix gave Ampharos an equally desperate glance.

"I didn't mean to make her angry," she said in a tiny voice.

Ampharos was so taken aback, by the way she sounded like the victim of a bully, that he forgot to respond for a hanging moment. "And I bet she didn't mean to insult you." he finally said consolingly. "Let's just keep making our way toward Spear Pillar and enjoy it as much as we can, alright?"

"Alright," said Vulpix, although she didn't look much cheered up. Ears and tail down, she, too, padded into the cave, leaving Ampharos alone at the entrance.

Ampharos sighed and rubbed his tail anxiously, pulling it in front of himself. "This is going to be a long trip," he mumbled as the red ball on the end of his tail burst with illumination. The entire cave was soon lit up with a steady, bright light.

Sneasel was coolly waiting, leaned up against the wall of the inner cave. Vulpix was standing near the opposite wall her red eye stood out in the dim lighting of the cave giving her an unnaturally eerie look. Both were, very casually, not facing at each other.

"So, Ampharos, where to next?" asked Sneasel.

"Which way now?" said Vulpix in the same second. The two Pokémon glared at each other, and Ampharos was tempted to facepalm.

the electric type took a look around at the high-ceilinged curvature of the enormous mountain cave. The slow drip of a nearby puddle gave the place an air of spookiness and the audible scuttering of cave dwellers made this trip feel like trespassing. The map that they had saw before was certainly no help in here.

"I dunno… Up?" Ampharos suggested meekly, feeling the need to remain quieter as the sound echoed off of the interior quite easily.

The dark type swiveled her head around for a few moments "I think left would be better," said Sneasel.

"Yes, let's go up," said Vulpix immediately after sneasel was done talking and making sure to look exclusively at Ampharos.

the electric type hated all of this tension so much but him getting angry could easily result in the three of them getting separated and hurt or kill "Well, uh, I just meant the general direction up, when we need to get to the top… and then we could go left if that's what you think will get us there when we can't go up anymore..." Ampharos stumbled over his words awkwardly, and fiddled with his flipper like hands with equal unease.

"Alright! It's settled, then. We're going left!" Sneasel dashed away as iid daring the others to try and go a different way.

Sneasel was again positioned on the high ground as she climbed with ease over the multiple ledges that made up the floor of the cave.

"What?! Nothing's settled!" yelped Vulpix, growling slightly as she continued "Since when did we…"

"Oh, loosen up, Vulpix!" called Sneasel, her voice echoing back down the hallway. "We don't have to _plan _every move of the way! We're here to have fun, remember?" her true yet unwise words sent the message that she was serious.

"Some idea of fun," muttered Vulpix, reluctantly following and once again leaving Ampharos behind.

Running out of inner diplomacy, Ampharos struggled to maintain his normal duty as mediator "Um… somethings are better when planned, but, uh…. no one knows where to go so left is the best guess… I guess.." It seemed like they barely even heard him as he fell even further behind. Vulpix took off in reluctant following of the dark type _Sheesh, you think they would at least wait for their light source!_

(division line?)

The light in the cave bobbed ever so slightly up and down as Ampharos walked, reflecting and making countless shadows off of the stalactites-and-gmites. The cave curved, almost as if it was cut out in a circle as perfect as a naturally formed cave would become. Clear paths were marked, the basis of the direction the trio intended to follow. Vulpix started to slow down and stay closer to the light source, but Sneasel paid no heed, her Dark-type eyes seeing through the shadows even without Ampharos's light allowed her to travel without them whenever she wanted to.

It didn't take long for the floor of the cave to become shiner as the moisture content on the ground rose dramatically. A droning, pounding sound was rapidly gaining in volume from the path ahead of them.

In silence they stepped around the next few corners. As the tunnel opened up into a massive room, Ampharos's light illuminated a brilliant display of scenery. All three Pokémon, even Sneasel, gasped.

A waterfall lay in the center of an almost square cavern, dumping water into a small in diameter, but incredibly deep, round basin. When they approached, shy water Pokémon scattered, along with a few Zubat that were stunned by Ampharos's light. A small rainbow formed as the particles of water reflected the light and they all stood silently for once, taking in the beauty.

Sneasel broke the silence, as usual.

"Wow," she breathed, her voice losing its sharp edge for once. All three Pokémon were awestruck at the sheer power radiating off of the crashing water. One of them was also afraid.

Vulpix could feel her legs trembling as she gazed up at the huge waterfall. Fire-types, of course, had an almost innate sense of wanting to keep _away _from water of any kind, especially huge waterfalls. She glanced at the others, but neither of them looked scared.

_Well, of course, they're not Fire-types. _Vulpix bit her lip. _I don't care. I can do anything they can do! I'm already crippled- I'm not going to let my type hold me back too!_

Ampharos cringed, his mind set on a completely different set of problems. _wait, if i touch that water with my light on ,everything in it will be shocked!_ he thought anxiously.

He immediately spoke up facing the other two with intent to address the issue. "Alright, I can't touch the water and Vulpix can't touch the water- what happens now?"

A exhale escaped loudly from the the dark type's mouth "Well, seeing as I'm the only one who _can_ touch the water…" Sneasel paused for a moment, smiling a little bit in a mischievous kind of way. "I'll just _help _you two again, like I did before. It's no trouble, _really._"

Vulpix fumed, literally letting out a small puff of fire that turned into smoke in the saturated air.

"I can do this by myself," she insisted. "All we need to do is cross this room, right? That's not so hard! Nothing I need _your _help for, anyways!" She turned away from Sneasel in irritation, catching another sight of the huge waterfall, impeding their path forward.

Sneasel shrugged and threw a helpless glance at Ampharos.

Ampharos returned the gesture. Gulping and looking at Vulpix, he took a chance and said something. Tried to say something, that is.

"Well… I mean… I…" _She can't do it on her own, but I can't just outright say that! crap... _the Electric-type thought frantically. Sneasel was obviously thinking the same thing. Despite her cold attitude, she really did care about Vulpix. She wasn't so mad at the Fire-type that she wanted to see her crushed beneath this torrent of water.

Ampharos and Sneasel looked away from each other to see Vulpix suddenly charging straight at the waterfall.

_I'll prove myself to them!_


	2. Waterfall

**hiii, it's me (quill)**

**so it's kind of been two weeks since the first chapter, but that is not that much hopefully xD anyways **

**lots of drama n stuff in this chapter, more tension between vulpix and sneasel, and sneasel shows off her epic skills |D**

**hope you enjoy c:**

Hey its Bagel, that ^ pretty much sums it up, I handled most of the action in this chapter, and Quill took care of the majority of character interaction. She also did the grammar check for the whole chapter so there is the credit where it is due.

enjoy!

* * *

Ampharos froze in utter shock as Sneasel immediately whipped past his nose. The fastest of the three, she easily overtook Vulpix, sending both of them skidding out of the way of the waterfall with a swift shoulder charge. Sneasel got up, flicked dirt off of herself and stared incredulously at Vulpix.

"Are you insane?!" the Dark-type gasped, chest heaving as she sucked in air. She closed her eyes for a second. When the mild echoing of her voice subsided was when Vulpix chose to respond

"I'm… fine…" breathed Vulpix, struggling to get to her feet.

"O...of course you are," said Sneasel, trying hard to look as if she didn't care. The girls were quick to resume their evasion of eye contact, Sneasel resuming her arms-crossed-I-don't-care pose.

Ampharos fiddled with his tail, messing with the light bouncing around the cave in an attempt not to look at his two irritated friends. "You're fine because Sneasel just stopped you from charging into a waterfall headfirst… why would you do that?" Not daring to take a side, Ampharos's pleading glance flicked from one stubborn face to the next.

"Yeah," said Vulpix bluntly, not-so-subtly avoiding the question. She picked herself up and dusted herself off. "W-what'd you _do_ that for… anyways?" Unquestionably, this was directed at Sneasel, even though the Fire-type herself was staring at the opposite wall.

"So you wouldn't get hurt!" exclaimed Sneasel, turning around and glaring at her irate friend.  
"Isn't it obvious? What did you even think you were doing?! You could have… have…"

"I wouldn't have _died_, if that's what you mean," snorted Vulpix, trying her hardest not to look upset as she, too, turned to face the center of the room. Her defiant look didn't mask her limbs trembling.

Ampharos, too, gave the fox a look of mingled worry and dismay. "But you _could_ have gotten hurt!" the Electric-type offered, trying to appease both again.

The flat roar of the waterfall filled in what would have been an awkward silence, as no one knew what to say to each other.

"I wouldn't have gotten hurt," Vulpix said finally, lying through her teeth. "Let's go." Without another word, she turned- and then remembered that the waterfall was still… there.

All three Pokémon turned to look at the crashing water, momentarily forgetting the abruptly-ended argument. Ampharos tilted his head thoughtfully. _It's too high for Sneasel to jump in one shot, so that means she can't carry either me or Vulpix… hmm…_ Holding his tail, he fiddled with the bulb on the end out of habit. Suddenly, he perked his ears up._ Wait… I got it!_ _  
_

"Sneasel, do you think you could freeze the waterfall for us?" the Electric-type questioned excitedly, pointing at the rush of falling water. The other two turned to him. Sneasel blinked, one eyebrow quirked.

"Yeah," she said dubiously. "But you two wouldn't be able to… well, to climb it, if that was what you were thinking." She gave the Light Pokémon a eye roll that said 'I already thought of that'.

Ampharos's thought bubble popped in disappointment. "Oh, yeah…" His ears dropped a little as he scratched his head, embarrassed.

"I mean, it's a start," said Sneasel hastily. "Isn't there some way we could make it so you and Vulpix could have some kind of traction? Like if we could…" She trailed off, apparently lost in her own ideas.

Suddenly, and without another word, Sneasel took off toward the rocky sidebars of the waterfall. Ampharos's tail light caught the gleam of her claws flashing silver as they transformed into deadly metal weapons- or tools, in this case.

As Vulpix and Ampharos watched, the Dark-type strained her neck upward with the intention of plotting out a course, then sprang into rapid action. Slamming the sides of her claws tactically into the rocks she scaled the cliff face with practiced, fluid motions. With loud bangs and puffs of rock dust, she began to form…

"It's like a ladder," breathed Vulpix, forgetting her anger for a moment as she watched Sneasel with wide eyes.

When Sneasel reached the top she huffed loudly for a few seconds, letting her limbs hang before her. "That… oughta do it" she yelled down in between breaths, turning her attention to her audience of two that stared in stunned silence.

"...Right," said Vulpix, looking shocked.

"I had no idea Sneasel could do anything like that!" The now embarrassed Electric-type gawked -until he realized he still needed to get up there with the small white Pokémon at his feet. "Alright… Vulpix, do you think you can hold on to me while I climb up there?"

Enraged on the inside about depending on these two yet again, Vulpix begrudgingly hopped onto Ampharos's lowered shoulder and curled up around the base of his neck like a scarf, making sure to have a good grip at the same time as not strangling her friend. Well, not strangling her friend too much.

"Okay!" said Ampharos, doing his best to sound cheerful so as not to scare his small passenger. "Up we go!"

Sneasel peered down from the top of the waterfall, with a increasing heartbeat, now suddenly worried about whether or not they would be able to accomplish the climb.

"If you need help, just call," she yelled. "I'll be up here."

Taking a deep breath, Ampharos walked forward and dimmed his light out of nervousness as he reached for the first handhold. It was slippery, but he found at the same time it was fairly easy to grasp. He hurried to grab the next hold, his feet scrabbling for purchase on the slick wall of water.

Once off of the ground he reignited the full intensity of his natural light, which cast a bevvy of moving, shimmering shadows around the cavern as water droplets rolled around the sphere on the end of his tail.

"You doing okay?" called Sneasel. Unable to make out a clear image of them as they were pressed up against the side, the Dark-type peered dangerously over the edge.

"Yeah," Ampharos replied, breathless, grabbing onto the next handhold and pulling himself up a notch. _Still not in any real danger, _he reminded himself. _If I fall, I'll just fall onto the ground. _He didn't want to think about what would happen when he got higher up. Vulpix was very quiet around his neck.

He reached for the next ledge and misjudged the distance from his foot to the next rock, causing a minor slip. His foot flew out from under him, and he was left hanging by one flipper end for a brief moment of uncontrollable panicked motions. His feet barraged the empty air searching for structure as he breathed in sharply. Vulpix let out a single, high-pitched shriek, and he realized she was trembling. Sneasel's head appeared hanging over the the ledge again.

"Everything's okay?" she yelled, her eyes flashing with fear. Ampharos felt a burst of relief as his feet found the necessary notches in the rocks and pulled them up to comfortable ledges. He closed his eyes for a moment.

"Fine. Just fine." Ampharos panted, more to reassure himself and Vulpix than to answer Sneasel. The Dark-type sighed, slipped carefully back down the waterfall, and balanced easily on the ledge beside him. Needless to say, she wanted to see for herself how okay they actually were.

"C'mon," she encouraged.

"Just a moment." Ampharos took a deep breath and then began again. He felt water flick on the back of his head, although his neck was warm from Vulpix's fur. He hoped the little fox wasn't getting too wet, but there was no way to check. He would just have to hurry up and get to the top.

Even though Ampharos was trying to go faster, he didn't want to risk the safety of Vulpix or himself, so his progress was quickly forced into a gradual crawl. Water kept getting in his eyes but he couldn't risk rubbing it out, because that would sacrifice the grip that he had on the ledges. His flipper-like hands didn't help one bit. Sneasel followed them closely as her friend struggled up the waterfall, jerking whenever his handhold slipped. Ampharos wanted to tell her to relax, but he couldn't spare the breath at the moment. _I didn't think this trip would be so…. dangerous. _

Finally, he reached the top of the waterfall, panting and out of breath. To his relief, the tunnel ahead seemed beautifully flat and easy to walk on, so he just lay there for a second, breathing hard.

"You okay?" Ampharos asked, ready to help if the fox needed assistance drying off, but mainly to just reassure himself of her wellbeing. When his flipper touched nothing but his neck and rocks he shot up, looking wildly around. "Vulpix? Are you okay?"

Sneasel turned away as he raised his head, looking for his friend...

The panicked fox could not manage a call for help after she slipped off Ampharos's neck, her voice clogged with pure terror. She could not believe he hadn't noticed right away, but thankfully she didn't fall far. Vulpix managed to find a spot where her front paws were holding onto one ledge and her tip-toed back paws were barely supported by another stone outjutting.

Water rushed past her already soaked fur and the stillness of her situation caused chills to run down her spine. After a few seconds she closed her eyes and just waited for the next thing to happen, numbed by fear.

Sneasel had watched the whole scene and had already dived to the bottom to catch the falling fox. However she was surprised when nothing fell. A bit of looking revealed that Vulpix had found purchase near the top. The Dark-type decided that a nondestructive approach to her position was the best way to avoid the catastrophe of her friend losing her grip.

Ampharos leaned over the edge.

"Vulpix!" Darting his head back and forth, he locked on to her location, about 8 feet from the top.

The acknowledgement from her friend caused slight relaxation in Vulpix's stance, triggering a terrifying slip. Suddenly, she was left with no reliable footing, her back paws flailing in midair.

Meanwhile Ampharos turned back to find Sneasel. "Can you hold me by my paws while..." the Electric-type paused, realizing that there was, once again no-one to greet his words.

The Dark-type scaled up to the terrified Vulpix, quickly analyzing that she would not be able to let go of the wall, grab Vulpix, then climb to the top. The Fire-type opened her eyes, just barely catching a waterlogged glimpse of her friend's form.

Ampharos was watching closely. "Sneasel! Come up here!" he ordered. The Dark-type sprang up the remaining distance in two solid leaps. "What?!" Sneasel demanded, panic making her voice sharper.

"Okay, do you think you can hold my hands, and drop me down, then pull me back up?" Ampharos rattled off, his flippers moving up and down as he rapidly illustrated what he was requesting.

"...Yeah," said Sneasel after a short pause, her voice scared but determined as she nodded to him. She glanced into her friend's eyes for a split second before grabbing onto the midsection of the Electric-type's flippers.

Ampharos felt her squeeze a little more tightly than was necessary.

Slowly, Ampharos lowered his tail over the edge and backed up cautiously. Sneasel kept a reliable grip, while the tall Electric-type planted both feet on on the precipice of the waterfall in a way that resembled repelling. Once the extra weight of gravity started to make itself apparent, the Dark-type dug her sharp claws into the rock beneath her.

Vulpix noticed bright light seeping through her tightly shut eyelids and opened them for a quick assessment of the situation. Ampharos's tail was slowly lowering toward her position. All at once she worried about slipping and falling to her death and clenched the platform hard, unwilling to let go.

The red orb on the end of the Electric-type's tail glowed bright with anxiety, almost blinding Vulpix. The white fox tentatively stretched out her left front paw and touched the hanging tail, instantly losing her balance. Staying on the rocky ledges was suddenly no longer an option as she stumbled off of the side of the cliff, clasping the hanging tail viciously with all of her strength.

Ampharos vigorously nodded toward Sneasel, instructing her to pull. With the Ice-type's added effort the two were finally heaved onto the cliff, each one of them panting from exhaustion and fear.

Ampharos was the first to begin speaking through his panting. "Thank… Arceus… we made it… we both could have… just... died" The moment played back in his mind. "Thanks for the hand Sneasel". The Dark-type wordlessly accepted the gratitude.

Vulpix blew out a relieved breath, looking shaken up. "W-we're okay," she said, half to herself, placing her paws against the ground as if bracing herself.

"That shouldn't have been so hard," said Sneasel, trying to look disdainful. "Come on! There's no time to waste." The Dark-type, of course, was never in any real danger throughout the whole situation.

Vulpix glared at her.

"Shouldn't have been so hard for you, maybe," she said in a tiny voice, speaking powerfully for the first time since they had been at the bottom of the waterfall. "Because you're so high-and-mighty. It was plenty hard for me and Ampharos!"

Sneasel looked first taken aback and then annoyed.

"As far as I could see, all you did was let Ampharos carry you piggyback up the whole thing!" she retorted. "And that's BEFORE you fell and we had to rescue you, maybe you need to thank us both and stop complaining!"

"I'm not complaining," whispered Vulpix, looking down at her feet. Sneasel seemed surprised that the little fox Pokémon wasn't reacting more angrily. She didn't seem to know what to say, even though the tension was all but dispersed.

"Well, at any rate," the Dark-type sighed finally. "Whatever. If you're trying some kinda new way to freak me out, it's working."

"I'm not a freak!" shouted Vulpix, her voice echoing around the cavern. She actually sounded close to tears.

"I never said you were!" Sneasel said, sounding shocked. "I said you were freaking me out, because you're acting so weird! What's wrong with you?!"

Ampharos felt it was time to step in. "Enough!"

There was a pause as the uncharacteristically stern voice bounced off of the nearby walls. The smaller two instantly stopped their argument.

"Its very clear now that if what just happened didn't stave off an argument, then you two need to stay separated." Ampharos finished, angry inside and out. He was no longer trying to make peace with bridges; now he was making it with walls.

"How's that supposed to work? We're in a cave!" Sneasel shouted back, still heated from the previous argument.

Ampharos thought for only a second. "You're right, we are going to finish this thing after coming all this way, and you aren't going to talk to each other unless you have something positive to say." There was a note of finality in his voice.

Throughout the Electric-type's speech the girls exchanged remorseful looks, now sensing that they had offended Ampharos. Neither wanted to admit to the other that they were wrong, but they still wanted to apologize to their tall yellow companion.

Ampharos was frustrated at the two for being so reluctant to be friends with each other and passed right in between them, continuing down the corridor. Subsequently, the light faded as he walked around a tight corner, leaving Sneasel and Vulpix cloaked in dim reflected light with only the waterfall to fill the awkward tension once again.

"Well, we should keep going," said Sneasel eventually, turning her back and beginning to walk again. Vulpix hurried to catch up, and the three of them kept walking down the dark tunnel.

A dull sound echoed in the silence "Hey, did you hear something?" asked Vulpix suddenly, a look of fear crossing her face before she hurriedly composed her expression, not wanting to appear like a coward.

Sneasel furrowed her brow.

"No…" she said slowly, glancing at Vulpix and then at the dark passageway they had just come through.

The group fell silent, as Ampharos was still heated and the other two were following the light on the end of his tail. The Electric-type soon wound up a few yards ahead, almost forgetting that he still had no idea where exactly they were headed.

It didn't take very long for a another fork to appear in the road. Holding his tail forward, Ampharos examined the far reaches of each choice, neither one looking more "up" than the other. Flipping a mental coin, the Electric-type chose right at a whim and just hoped that it would work out for the better.

A tiny rumble suddenly directed Ampharos's attention to his feet. He was now extremely curious. The tall yellow Pokémon stood, motionless, waiting for another sign of a source of the undeciphered noise.

All at once, the ground beneath his feet opened in a practically silent fissure with the sinister face of a Graveller staring him in the eyes. Ampharos felt his feet sinking beneath him. Flailing for some flipper hold proved useless as the hole expanded another few inches, insuring his fate and closing the instant he made it all the way through.

From just before the fork in the road Vulpix and Sneasel watched as Ampharos's light flickered for a brief moment and then disappeared- only to be instantly replaced with a steadier, brighter glow that seemed to wait for them.

"I… I think that's Ampharos?" said Vulpix unsurely.

"Of course it is," said Sneasel roughly, placing a hand behind Vulpix and pushing her along towards the light.

"O-okay," said Vulpix, still unsure, but unwilling to pick a fight with Sneasel after their latest disagreement. They walked quickly to catch up to the bright light.


	3. Ambush

**Bagel: Welcome! To one of two action packed chapters that will be uploaded this weekend! This chapter goes hand in hand with the other and really takes place at the same time in reality so that's why we decided to upload them together. We each took one chapter to write and this one was mine, Quill edited of course, she always edits.**

**quill: heyy c; it's me**  
**so uh yeah, we wrote some awesome battling scenes here and then the real action of the plot starts (after these next few chapters) and i'm personally really excited to start on that hehh 3**

**so enjoy! c:**

* * *

Ampharos landed painfully on his backside. For a moment he lay there, a bit dazed, but he jumped to his feet when a ring of advancing Pokémon caught his attention. His heart was pumping fast as he realized the Graveler had pulled him into a lower level hallway of sorts, not unlike the one which he had just come from.

The Electric-type swiveled his head around the immediate area in a panic. What looked like a small army of Graveler, Zubat, Golbat, and Bronzong were surrounding Ampharos, blocking the only two escape routes with a veritable wall of opposition.

The nervous yellow Pokémon tried to think of a quick way out of the situation. They obviously wanted to fight him for whatever reason- _probably trespassing. _He imagined them beating him to a pulp and tossing him out of the mountain, or worse… Biting his bottom lip and gulping, he got into his most convincing fighting stance.

Their intense stares seemed unwavering, but when he swung his tail around to count the number of Pokémon surrounding him, he noticed that several of them winced at the brightness of his light, which was growing in intensity with his nervousness.

An idea dawned on Ampharos in that instant. Acting on it instantly, the Electric-type grabbed his tail and held it in front of him like a weapon. At the same time, he began storing as much electricity as possible in the base of his tail. The enemy nodded at each other, signaling the slow and organized advance of the ambush.

The small red orb at the tip of Ampharos's tail and the one on his forehead began to glow brighter. Under the mounting pressure, the Electric-type found it difficult to focus on standing still and letting his plan unfold. The flapping of the Zubats' wings sounded unbearably loud and threatening as he counted the seconds. _One… two… three..._

Ampharos let out a yell as he released the stored energy all at once. A sudden burst of blinding light exploded into the corridor, forcing the dim-light oriented eyes of the cave dwellers to painfully shut.

Ampharos capitalized on the attack and began sprinting toward one of the walls of opposing Pokémon, targeting a small group of Zubat that were hovering toward the middle of the crowd. Eyeless, they hadn't been blinded, so they were the only capable enemies in his way.

Redirecting a portion of his stored electricity into a thundershock, Ampharos decimated two that began charging him. One of the remaining Zubat swiftly approached Ampharos, wings sharpened and glowing, while the other held its position as it launched a small barrage of poison needles. The spray of purple darts skillfully avoided the path of the other Zubat and its allies.

Ampharos unleashed another round of desperate electricity into the flurry of wing attacks, singeing the blue bats and sending them clattering onto the ground behind him. As the second wave approached, the Light Pokémon jumped and slammed his large tail into the other frail bat, sending it straight through the stream of poison sting. Using his gained momentum, the Electric-type charged into the remaining Zubat, finally breaking free of the ambush that had been set up for him.

As their two blue and purple bodies collapsed into a pile against the wall, Ampharos made a split-second decision; he had to choose a direction at the nearest 4-way intersection. On a completely non-informed and panicked whim, he chose left, hoping for the best.

However, the initial Graveler had never come down from the ceiling and was able to shake off the flash quicker than the rest of his companions. Looking down, he saw the defeated bodies of the weakest links of the wall and a flash of yellow rounding the corner from the periphery of his vision.

Using his multiple extremities he traversed the ceiling in hot pursuit of the Electric-type. Graveler had lived within these hallways for years and knew where he could cut off the enemy's escape. Immediately the Rock/Ground-type opened a new hole in the ceiling. Climbing through, he began rolling after his target.

The rest of the Pokémon finally adjusted their eyes. Frustrated and without a bead on their ambush victim, they split up into teams of varying sizes and took off in every direction, doing a sweep of every possible route in order to recapture him.

Meanwhile Ampharos was beginning to pant; he had not stopped running and had covered a great distance, but was now immeasurably lost. The Electric-type didn't hear any other Pokémon around, so he stopped for a rest. In the beginning of the sprint he had turned his light dim as so not to give his position away. Without that light there was no way to tell what part of the cave he was in before, so during the moment of peace and at the expense of even more energy he illuminated the area for a few seconds. He found that he was in a long straight hallway, and at one end there seemed to be an opening of sorts.

It would have been stupid to wait any longer to see if they were following him, so he started walking cautiously toward the set of stairs. It only took a few steps for him to realize this opening was actually a set of carved stone steps framed by an archway of sorts. He dimmed his light once more and proceeded.

The rocky terrain wore on the soles of Ampharos's feet, and since he was so unaccustomed to the sharp rocks it wore on his endurance as well. Moving slower as he mounted the steps, he wondered what could be through the apparently carefully built archway. The tall yellow Pokémon finally reached the archway and paused, listening. There was a low rumble; checking behind him revealed that the sound was either far away or above him somewhere.

Suddenly the sound increased dramatically in volume and a dark figure plummeted down the stairs, colliding with Ampharos with enormous power. The Light Pokémon was caught severely off guard. He tumbled limply down the stairs until his senses kicked back in and he used an arm along with his legs to slide into stability on the ground, wincing as he did so and looking up.

A Graveler with a sly, evil grin stood battle ready at the bottom of the staircase, smirking at the already damaged Electric-type. His set of four arms spread out and he flexed each one individually.

Ampharos gazed at the creature in fear and contemplated his escape backwards, but soon realized that he would run the risk of running into the previous horde of creatures. The only way to escape was to go through this Pokémon.

Ampharos quickly spread all relevant information about Graveler into the forefront of his mind. _His typing is inconvenient, he hasn't sustained any damage, who knows what moves he has, I don't have much against him, my best bet is to evade and get around him… but with what?_

The bumpy sphere of rock started making its way toward the thought absorbed Pokémon and caught Ampharos's attention immediately. The Electric-type had a vague idea of what his goal was, but he needed to wait for a sufficient opportunity to pull it off.

Graveler stopped abruptly and arranged its four arms forward like a cannon. Boulders congregated out of invisible material into each hand, and the burly Pokémon readied itself to send the objects the Electric-type's way.

With a roar of confidence the Ground/Rock type hurled the rocks forward. Ampharos ducked dramatically, overcompensating the distance from the first to second rock, and was barely was able to move his not-naturally-flexible body out of the way. However, the Graveler had spanned the onslaught across the entire width of the corridor. One of the larger rocks caught Ampharos in the side of the stomach.

The pain did not escape him; however, it was the least of his worries, as a second rock deluge was effortlessly on its way. This one was made up of a lot more rocks that were about half of the size of the first ones. Graveler was fancifully spinning them in a tight circle and packing momentum into every chunk of material as he let go.

Thinking fast, the Electric-type shot a quick thunderbolt towards the ground at his feet, simultaneously taking hits from some of the less damaging rocks. The cloud of dust that had been kicked up was not enough to deter the Graveler from sending more bloodthirsty rocks into the brown mist. For now, Ampharos's position was unknown.

Another, larger thunderbolt snaked its way out of the cloud and destroyed relevant rocks, but was still aimed at the ground, acting efficiently like a shield against the debris. Their environment protested their battle; the thunderbolt shook the cave pathway as plumes of dirt and particles of the cave walls showered the two Pokémon.

Ampharos stealthily hugged the wall for directional assistance, and with his tail light shining bright enough to be unidentifiable as its beam was dispersed through the dust, he peered around. A shadow was slightly visible through the dust, and Ampharos put the final phase of his plan into action. Summoning a move he rarely ever used anymore, large balls of sticky cotton silently spawned, floating all around the Electric-type.

All at once the Light Pokémon shot his incapacitating attack and sprinted toward the direction he had identified as the exit.

The attack served its purpose well, as Graveler had not been able to pick up Ampharos's location due to the Electric-type being the light source. He was caught off guard as the cotton landed all around the spherical Pokémon's feet, plastering them to the ground. Rolling into a ball only succeeded in getting him caught in that position.

The relieved Ampharos watched from the stairs with satisfaction at his success. That is, until he looked down the corridor to see a team of two Golbat turning and seeing the situation in its entirety. Ampharos darted up the staircase, inwardly sighing at the unfortunate nature of this scenario. The speedy bats bolted after the trespasser immediately. One hesitated briefly, contemplating helping the Graveler, but decided against it.

Ampharos reached the top of the steps, panting wildly and knowing that he could not outrun two pairs of wings. Looking around, he saw a little strip of earth behind the entrance and above the stairs. Panicked, he ran over there and charged his electricity the best that he could, although a cave was not the best environment to support this.

Their wings were almost silent, but the grumbling of Pokémon speech he heard let him know how close they were. On a hair trigger, Ampharos prepared to unleash a massive thunderbolt. When the tip of the first ones wings flashed from the entrance, he let loose a massive amount of electricity into the Golbat.

The identified enemy took the large majority of the attack and slammed lifelessly into the second one, although that Golbat had unfortunately not sustained any direct electric attack. Ampharos's shoulders drooped and his breath was labored as he backed further away. Not taking much damage doesn't matter when you are using every ounce of energy you have to defend yourself.

Suddenly, the angered Golbat companion whooshed vertically past the Electric-type, spiraling in midair and changing its trajectory rapidly and erratically in order to come in for a Poison Fang. Two of the tiny teeth it possessed had begun dripping purple sludge. Unwilling to give up, the Electric-type had reflexively directed the electricity in his body to a concentrated point on his right flipper.

As the Golbat dive-bombed him, Ampharos propelled the flipper into the small portion of face just outside the fangs. The electricity devastated the cave dweller and sent its paralyzed body tumbling down the stairs.

Knowing that more solo battling would occur if he didn't get out of there propelled Ampharos onward, against the heavy fatigue that he was feeling. The rush of battle slowly faded and left the Electric-type with barely enough energy to walk forward and even less for any future encounters.

As the battered Pokémon travelled he picked up on distant noises. It took a second for him to realize they were the sounds of someone else fighting... then it clicked. _Vulpix, Sneasel! They probably had to deal with these Pokémon on their own! I hope Vulpix is holding up alright._

The nearly impossible nature of locating the direction of which the noise was coming from was frustrating. As Ampharos approached the next intersection, he couldn't narrow it down to any particular direction. Figuring that he still needed to keep moving, the Electric-type chose his best guess and just hoped it was correct.


	4. Truce

**quill: hii X3 ok so last chapter was ampharos's, this one is vulpix and sneasel's. i wrote most of this one heh, bagel helped me with… well about half of it X33 i can't do anything by myself lol**

**so enjoy sneasel and vulpix being generally epic and vulpix showing off some of her own awesome powers ^^**

**Bagel: Hello! This is the other perspective, so much action all around. I'm excited for the future of this story, and this chapter is the final leap to the true beginning of the story.**

**Enjoy c:  
**

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Vulpix and Sneasel raced towards the light, which seemed to be waiting for them and not progressing.

"Keep going on, Ampharos!" yelled Sneasel. "We'll follow you!" They kept running, but to their surprise, the light appeared to disregard their words. In fact, it was actually moving towards them.

"Ampharos?" yelped Vulpix, stopping in her tracks. The light barrelled towards them and now the two Pokémon could see that it wasn't Ampharos at all, but-

"Aaaaaaaahhhh!" cried both Pokémon as a heavy, cold something hit them head-on.

Vulpix reeled back as the Flash faded away, revealing…

"A Lunatone? " she gasped, stumbling slightly and looking wildly around. "Where's Ampharos?"

"Attack!" yelled Sneasel, launching herself at the impending Pokémon with reckless abandon. It only took a few moments for Vulpix to follow, shooting her best Embers cautiously at the intimidating Pokémon. The Lunatone glowed faintly blue and tossed the fire attacks in front of it, cutting off Sneasel's planned path. The enemy Pokémon seemed to scoff at their advances with its giant red eyes.

Sneasel jumped wildly towards the Lunatone as soon the flames dissipated, but this time Vulpix hung back, terrified. Noticing the weakness, the Lunatone immediately turned away from Sneasel and targeted the little Fire-type. Vulpix yelped in fear as rocks, glowing psychic-pink, began forming above the Rock/Psychic type. _That's super effective! _

"Run, Vulpix!" yelled Sneasel angrily while changing her direction on a dime and throwing herself in between Vulpix and Lunatone. The Dark-type prepared to attack as Lunatone let out a melodic battlecry. Rocks began raining down above Vulpix and Sneasel's heads. The Dark-type's long, thick claws turned metallic and silver as she worked to be a destructive moving umbrella from the onslaught of super effective danger. Vulpix stood in fearful awe as her friend zipped around vaporizing the rocks before they hit the ground. The speedy Pokémon came to a panting halt, looked at Vulpix- who hadn't moved an inch- and sighed in frustration.

Lunatone saw the energy level draining from the Sharp Claw Pokémon's eyes and and took that as an opportunity to begin preparing another rock slide. As Sneasel and Vulpix saw the next set of psychic-infused rocks start forming, both of them had the same idea: _run for your life! _

With Sneasel ahead, the pair aimed for the space under the levitating crescent moon. Lunatone gave a frustrated cry and tried to stop them by ramming itself into the ground. Sneasel slipped a claw under Vulpix and tossed her over the now-grounded Pokémon before easily sidestepping it herself.

The small fox landed hard and off-balance, but began sprinting down the tunnel, aware of Sneasel by her side. They didn't need to look back to know that Lunatone was drifting down the tunnel after them. The two Pokémon turned the corner and finally stopped, both trying to get as much oxygen into their lungs as possible. A wave of nausea hit the white quadruped and she leaned against the cold stone wall, trying not to vomit.

"I think we lost it," said Sneasel hoarsely, peering around the corner stealthily. "For now."

"Okay," wheezed Vulpix, too tired to say anything else. Sneasel glanced at her sharply; after a quiet sizing-up it was obvious the Fire-type was in no position to continue. Not that she herself was, either; it was clear that neither of the two Pokémon would be able to take on Lunatone by herself.

"We have to work together," she said sharply, making eye contact with the fatigued fox.

Vulpix slid further down the wall.

"I… I…" She paused, looking away from her confused friend. _Ugh, I'm wasting time. Sneasel's relying on me, what am I supposed to do? _"I- I can't battle," she blurted out. "Like you always say. Y-you can't rely on me to h-help-" Wincing as she admitted what she had been denying ever since they had started up the mountain, she cut herself off as Sneasel's eyes widened in surprise- and outrage.

"You- you need to snap out of it, you idiotic-" The Dark-type paused as something caught the outer edge of her peripheral vision, something that was gradually gaining size- or maybe… getting closer?

"Look out!" she yelled, suddenly pushing the small fox across the cave and skidding backward before a rounded pink knee collided with the wall, throwing a small dust cloud in the air. The brown-colored air dissipated revealing the two friends on either side of a Medicham.

"Sneasel!" Vulpix yelped as the pink Pokémon turned to face her. The lithe Meditate pokemon swayed with anticipation, balancing itself on one leg and performing odd gestures with its upper body. Vulpix was paralyzed with fear, unable to even try to attack. She whimpered, pressing herself against the cold stone of the wall, as if it would make her less of a target.

"Vulpix, you have to- aaargh!" Sneasel ended her sentence with a strangled yell as she turned around to see Lunatone hovering around the corner, humming menacingly. "Attack!" she managed to get out, stumbling backwards. Her clawed feet caught the rocky ground and she sprung directly at the hovering moon. The prepared Psychic-type quickly summoned a shield-like rock in front of its armless body. Sneasel fearlessly charged up at the shield, but right before she impacted, she shimmered and faded away. The confused rock scanned the area with the fear inducing eyes on both sides of its head as a pair of claws glinted from behind it. Sneasel cautiously approached the blind spot on its back and laid into it with a anger infused kick.

The disoriented moon was sent spinning and came to a floating stop right between the battle between the other two Pokémon.

Vulpix and Medicham, meanwhile, were stuck in slow-motion, Vulpix watching the other Pokémon move hypnotically. Before the Fox Pokémon could blink, the apparently tranquil Pokémon lashed out with an impossibly fast arm, sending Vulpix crashing to the floor. Pain lanced through her side and she gasped, expecting another blow at any moment, but Medicham had returned to its preparatory dancing.

Breathing hard, the smaller Pokémon leapt to her feet and looked around desperately. Sneasel, on the other side of the rocky hallway, was battling the Lunatone from before- when had it come back? Vulpix knew that the Dark-type wasn't going to jump in and save her like before. She took a deep breath, then jumped back as Lunatone suddenly skidded between her and the Psychic Pokémon, giving her a moment to think. _Okay, it's either die or die fighting. _

Vulpix leveled her gaze on Medicham and focused. The end of her bangs that previously covered half of her face seemed to drift upward as the fox's spectral gaze bore into Medicham. A ring of blue-grey fire dropped around the swaying pink Pokémon, who braced herself for an attack. All at once the ethereal tongues of fire converged into Medicham and she began to falter in her elegant dance steps as her eyes turned to swirls. Vulpix followed up with unleashing an encompassing cyclone of fire that coated the dancing Pokémon in a swirling flame deathtrap.

Sneasel witnessed Vulpix and Medicham's battle from behind the Lunatone which she had driven into a stalemate, after dodging and deflecting all of its attempts at rock based attacks.

The panicked Medicham let out moves from its arsenal in a confusion induced frenzy. She planted an inflamed hand on the ground and let loose an immense beam of energy in a bright flash of yellow. The floor of the cave suddenly had a perfectly circular hole in it, a pile of rubble underneath. The Fighting-type could be heard attacking at random from the upper floor until a loud electric buzz quieted the sound.

A familiar and welcome figure appeared through the Force Palm opening.

"Ampharos!" Vulpix cried.

The surprise lowered Sneasel's guard for a split second- but it was enough for the Lunatone to gauge an opportunity and finally land the guided rock it was determined to destroy its opponent with.  
This image ripped Vulpix's attention away from the Electric-type, and with the adrenaline still coursing through her veins, she slammed her paws against the ground in a feverish sprint toward the crescent moon. The trail of white light following her signified the power behind her motion as the fox jumped up and slammed into the Lunatone, sending it over Sneasel's head as the Dark-type started to rise to her feet. In amazement and appreciation, the Dark-type watched the Rock/Psychic type plow into a wall yet again.

The Lunatone shook the collision off angrily, ignoring the damage taken, and looked back down the hallway to see the determined faces of three opponents. It wisely made the decision to float away for more capable backup.

Vulpix, the adrenaline draining out of her system in a few heartbeats, sank to the floor, her hair flopping down again as she breathed hard. Sneasel leaned against the side of the tunnel and sighed with relief. Ampharos trudged slowly toward the two and plopped down along with the other two Pokémon. Vulpix turned to face him with an exhausted smile, half wanting to say something, but her lungs wouldn't cooperate. There were multiple understanding and appreciative glances shared by the group, who understood the difficulty of talking.

Ampharos was the first to break the silence.

"We need to get moving as soon as possible," he said reluctantly, breathing a little easier now. The brightening glow from the revitalizing Electric-type was starting to hurt Vulpix and Sneasel's eyes, reminding them how dark it had been without him.

"Right," said Sneasel brightly, jumping up from the wall as if the whole battle had never happened. "Come on! Let's get moving!"

"Just a few more minutes," begged Vulpix, her fierce pride temporarily overshadowed by complete exhaustion. She couldn't remember ever having battled so hard; the whole experience left her a bit shaken.

Sneasel frowned momentarily and was about to complain about Vulpix's lack of stamina, but decided to give her a momentary pass in light of her recent show of skill… and Ampharos's presence.

"Okay," she agreed, slumping back against the wall and cleaning one long claw disinterestedly. "But then we're going!"

"Deal," agreed the white fox.

Ampharos was left intrigued in the silence. Whatever had happened between them had apparently allowed a small rift to be formed in the defensive shields they put up against each other. He wondered what had happened, but decided not to ask.

The next few minutes were eerily quiet, as each Pokémon debated how much longer it would be before they were forced to abandon the rest spot. Sneasel was growing impatient, tapping her feet and incessantly cleaning her claws. It was the only audible noise. Her ears suddenly twitched in response to a dull echoing noise that was easily not a good sign.

"We have to go now, whether you're ready or not," the Dark-type said forcefully, getting up and looking alertly around. Nobody seemed to be fast approaching, but they were obviously within hearing distance- if they could hear the enemy, the enemy could hear them, she reasoned.

"Fine, okay, okay." Vulpix grumbled, pushing herself to her feet. The little Fire-type had regained enough energy to be prickly towards Sneasel, Ampharos noted in amusement. "Go where?"

The Electric-type took a quick note of the path they took to get where they were; specifically, the flight of stairs he ran into earlier when outmaneuvering the Golbat. "We only have to go up from here, so just run until we hit stairs." he instructed briefly.

"Got it," said Sneasel, who was already halfway down the tunnel and waiting impatiently for her two friends. "Come _on_! Do you want to wait for Lunatone to come back with reinforcements, or what?"

"Bossy," Vulpix muttered under her breath, but she followed the impatient Dark-type anyways, looking back over her shoulder to make sure Ampharos was right behind- even though the steady glow from his taillight made it easy to tell anyways. They caught up to Sneasel and rounded a corner in unison to catch the glimpse of a archway carved into the left wall of the hallway in the distance. They headed straight for it.

Sneasel, naturally speeding up at the sight of the goal, got there first. She peeked through the stone formation.

"Staircase through here!" she called briskly, diving through and leaving her two friends to catch up behind her.

Since there was light pouring in through the hole, the Light Pokémon snuffed the electricity in his tail and head. The other two banked around the corner into the archway and charged up the steps. Sneasel was standing at the top, leaning against an immense stone slab that looked like it could cover the entrance they had come in from.

"Help me push this!" Ampharos yelled, hurrying over and beginning to push along with Sneasel, but Vulpix held back, sure that nothing she did would help. The stone budged a little, but didn't move much from its original position.

"Come on, Vulpix!" Sneasel panted irritably. "What are you waiting for?"

Vulpix rolled her eyes and wanted to take a stab at Sneasel's attitude, but the voices of the aforementioned backup rumbled out from the stairs. "Fine!" she shouted. The tiny fox brought herself around to the other side and attempted to push the slab across the opening, but as she had predicted her meager power didn't add much torque to the pushing brigade. Unbenounced to them, the air directly above the trio was starting to churn and glow progressively more... pink.

"Ugh!" Sneasel snarled in frustration, releasing her pressure on the slab for just a moment. "It's not moving…"

Vulpix panted as she, too, let go, feeling a weird prickling sensation as if somebody were creeping up on her. She brushed it off as exhaustion, refusing to look over her shoulder.

Suddenly, the rock began to move, and all three Pokémon startled before they began pushing again at once, working twice as hard at the glint of hope. The object began moving faster, seemingly gaining momentum. Ampharos was a bit confused. _I didn't think this thing was going to move at all after that first push..._

Then, right above them, the pink rift of space expanded rapidly, showering the area in a pink aura. This caught everyone's attention. However the slab continued its path for the staircase.

"What the-" Sneasel began, forgetting about the slab for a moment as she gazed upwards. "Whoa!" The slab was now sliding past the three Pokémons' paws, and continued its path toward the open staircase without their assistance.

"What's happening?" asked Vulpix, frightened, as the slab clicked into place with a loud crash. "Waah!" Before anyone could reply to the Fox Pokémon, the pink aura all around them grew blinding, and nobody could see anything, hear anything, feel anything…


	5. Homecoming

**Bagel: Wow this was a long a chapter and that might be why it took so long to get out, but its here now. Many things happen, with the top finally reached, and a certain someone on the horizon, only time will tell what the effects are for the trio. Hope you enjoy!**

**Quill: Hi! This is Quill 3 hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was loads of fun to write. Now we're getting to the really cool parts, so stay tuned! /shot for cheesiness/ love all you readers as always xDD**

* * *

The warped glow around them encompassed the entire altar area, sending ripples of energy down each of their spines. Vulpix tried to let out a scream but all sound was muffled and distorted. They all watched the colors of each others fur shimmer against the wavy background.

_What's happening? _Ampharos caught his breath as a wave of power seemed to blow right through him, making him almost stumble back.

_I… i can't see a thing! wait… _Sneasel squinted into the dancing lights, seeming to just make out a towering figure silhouetted in the archway.

_Whoa, who are these pokémon? is that…? _Vulpix gasped as something in her heart seemed to snap, but the pain was almost instantly gone. Wondering if this was what dying felt like, and if so, what had happened to suddenly kill them, she looked around when all at once the majestic light started to fade.

As it cleared, all three Pokémon winced and raised a paw to their eyes, even Ampharos. Vulpix saw the world swim before her eyes. Something seemed different; a sudden rush of dizziness overcame her and she toppled sideways. Luckily, Ampharos had the presence of mind to kneel and catch her, although he almost dropped her again when he caught sight of what was in front of them.

The dissipating mist revealed a hulking shadow that seemed to congregate into a solid out of thin air. The whole energy cloud seemed to be suckeddirectly into the figure. A streamlined tyrant made out of colors similar to the energy, stood impressively in a dilapidated archway.

It was a light, almost pale lavender with darker magenta decals running along its smooth features. A dim, rounded pink gem rested in the center of its disk-shaped shoulder-plates. It stood with what looked like a hunch and was standing on the balls of its enormous feet.

"It's Palkia..." gasped Vulpix breathlessly, just barely audible. And Sneasel didn't even say the "captain obvious" line.

Helplessly they watched as the partially masked eyes scanned Spear Pillar, landing them suspiciously on the stupefied trio of pokemon. Before they knew what was happening a translucent pink bubble surrounded each of them individually and they levitated against their will over toward the giant, at just below eye level.

The intimidating legend let his presence soak in a while, trying to get a grasp on the possible motives of his company, then grumbled "Why are you here?" The words seemingly echoed out of every direction carrying the subtle, angry undertone deep into their minds.

Sneasel was the first to regain a modicum of composure "Wait… are you a guy?" she blurted out recklessly. Ampharos and Vulpix shot glances of death and embarrassment at the Dark-type.

Palkia blinked, obviously nonplussed by the unexpected question.

"Yes, I am usually considered as male," the imposing Legendary said in tones of slight disbelief, staring down at Sneasel's tiny bubble.

Oblivious to the immense social error she had just committed, the Dark-type blinked innocently back before adding her next observation. "but you're pink… everywhere" Sneasel commented back.

Ampharos buried himself in his flippers refusing to partake in the blunder and Vulpix stared jaw agape at the exchange.

"Yes," Palkia urged further, too stunned by the unexpected approach to do much more than acknowledge the fact of his coloring. The full implications did not take long to cross his mind, and he was still struck by the ignorant gall of the inferior pokemon so he just repeated his initial question "What are you three doing here?" the dragon bellowed in telepathy.

Sneasel wasn't impressed by the power in his mental voice "Boys aren't pink," she observed, out loud, completely ignoring the question.

"SNEASEL!" yelled Ampharos pleading inwardly that she would take some kind of hint. He focused on regaining the power of speech as he slammed a flipper into his forehead agitated. Quickly he attempted to recover the situation "we are just here to… to observe… and, look at… your pillars?" the Electric-type stammered in the direct gaze of the colossus, attempting to disband the Ice-type's garnered attention.

The giant being squinted "To observe, and look at ...my pillars." repeated the Legendary dubiously. Ampharos gulped and really, really wished that Sneasel had just kept her mouth shut, just for once.

Vulpix, who had been watching defeatedly throughout this whole exchange with a mixture of horror and disbelief, suddenly had a thought. Flashing back to when they had been climbing the mountain- and, she thought, when everything had been _normal-_ she told the story of the legends. Ampharos had commented on the last bit she had told… about one of the Legendaries coming back to…

"Palkia" Vulpix called the attention of the legend "why are _you _here?" The small white fox tried to make her question seem unassuming but failed.

The Spatial titan drew back his aggression and offense, making a note to himself that these here are just curious children. In this new light the comments seemed inquizzatory and their ignorance became a quest for understanding.  
In the silence the legends mood shifted, noticeable in his voice "this is Spear Pillar, it is where i was born,. i can come and go as i please" the pokemon echoed with a bit of indignation

"why now?" She asked quickly and curiously, looking for Ampharos for support and finding very little in his almost cowering stance in his bubble.

Palkia mentally rolled his eyes _this is my home i want to know what you're doing here! what i do is none of your business! _he refrained from engaging them in an full on argument "im not answering your question until you answer mine" the dragon said flatly clearly waiting for a different response than "looking"

"we didn't come here to steal anything or disrupt some sacred balance or whatever" Sneasel started, crossing her arms in her pink prison "we just came here to see your stupid broken rocks"

Ampharos sat quietly no longer able to comprehend the sheer level of snarky causality that Sneasel had adopted in the face of a legendary pokemon, that could easily have them all killed in an instant.

"SNEASEL!" the white fox yelled furiously taking her turn at correcting the actions of her loud mouthed companion "at least try to have a _little_ respect for someone who is about one thousand times older AND more powerful than you!" she shouted across the space separating them.

"ENOUGH!" Palkia commanded, lowering their containment spheres to the ground and evaporating them into small particles. "if thats why you're here, fine, you've seen it and gotten to see me as a bonus. Now leave me to rebuild this place in peace" the inflection in his words shifted gradually from commanding to making a request.

Ampharos tilted his head slightly finally processing the scene as a whole. The broken ruins, the sudden appearance of Palkia, their presence and the dragons request that they leave. "I'm… We are terribly sorry for interrupting, but maybe to make it up to you, we can help you fix your altar!" The Electric-type asked enthusiastically attempting to savor the novel interaction for a little longer.

The pink legendary paused a moment, considering the possibility "if you are willing and able to assist me, i suppose... i would not be opposed to that" the legend conceded with little belif in their actual usefulness.

Ampharos blinked rapidly hearing the opportunity "sure! We'd _love_ to help right guys?"

Vulpix turned her head eagerly upward to the face of the pink dragon and visions of working side by side with a legendary pokemon enveloped her thoughts leading to a sudden and emphatic "of course!"

Sneasel on the other hand muttered "not really" almost directly afterward.

"Shut up, Sneasel," Vulpix grumbled back, giving the Dark-type a subtle shove.

Palkia sized each of the pokemon up, focusing intently on the small stature of the odd white fox "And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

Ampharos blinked, not having considered past the idea of making up for their blunder. "Uhh…"

The small white fox cleared her throat, accidentally drawing attention to herself, all eyes shifted to her for a moment. The long pause almost indicated the lack of a question but there was one sitting on the edge of the fox's tongue anyway "Palkia" She started inquisitively"What is it like being a legendary? Having all that power?"

Palkia stared at the weakling of a pokemon and recognized the uniqueness of the Vulpix. Her stark white and grey color scheme, her variegated red and black eyes and her singular tail where many should stand. The question and appearance immediately told the legend this pokemon's life story, and the dragon looked upon her with pity of her unfortunate condition.

"Its nothing much when you've been alive as long as i have" he replied modestly with an undertone of seniority in his voice.

Vulpix verbally waived the comment "How could it not be much, you can manipulate and travel through space!" she recited from the legend fairy tales which, at the moment, were the farthest thing away from seeming false.

Palkia somehow smiled with only his voice "yes i am certainly able to do that" He struggled a bit with recalling the negatives of his position "but pokemon and humans fear me, whereas the three of you are a shining examples of how you can have coexisting relationship. In addition i have to tend to space/time which is a full time job" he caught himself blathering

The pink dragon lifted his hunched neck and shoulders up, and the then gently down as if to soundlessly sigh. "since you obviously have none of the skills required..." The orbs on the center of his shoulders shone vividly for second and a translucent, pearlescent, iridescent structure attached itself to the side of the mountain.

An almost impossible to miss, absurdly large set of stairs was just created leading straight off of the nearest cliff.

"im afraid i have to ask you to leave" Palkia spoke with falsified regret, obviously wanting them gone as soon as possible, despite the attribute of connection that he created with the small fox.

"oh... okay" Vulpix muttered quietly, her quixotic dreams of further interaction crushed in an instant. The three had a mini conversation with facial expressions, conveying all at once their awe, disappointment, terror, reverence, and in Sneasel's case relief.

They began their slowed walk toward the new exit, the yellow one turning back with reverence "It was an honor to meet you Palkia!" Ampharos politely called up to the pokemon that was watching them start down on his temporary staircase.

The legendary nodded his head accepting the compliment, "it was, interesting finding you here as well" He replied honestly, but obviously dodging returning the honor.

As they began to walk away in their original formation, Sneasel waited until Palkia was barely within earshot then turned abruptly on her heels shouting back "You still look like a girl!" snickering to herself afterward.

The small fox scowled "one of these days that loud mouth of yours will get you in a lot of trouble!" Vulpix said in mingled irritation and forewarning as she hopped awkwardly down each step, clearly designed for bipedal pokemon to walk on.

Sneasel snarled, eager to start an argument "well at least i don't-"

"she is right Sneasel" Ampharos quickly intervened at the critical moment.

The Dark-type's head whipped around in disbelief "so you're taking her side now?"

The Light pokemon shook his head emphatically "no im taking the right side. The one that is not mouthing off to the ancient and powerful ruler of all of space" Ampharos's mediator role was momentarily abandoned as he intentionally stared down at Sneasel trying to get his point across.

Sneasel scoffed at them both "whatever" she folded her arms purposefully dropping down a few steps in front of the other two. "ancient and powerful ruler my foot," she muttered as she studiously ignored her friends.

Annoyed at her friend's reckless idiocy, Vulpix huffed, wanting to forget Sneasel's snarkiness for the moment and process what had just happened. The Dark-type's irritating attitude about the whole thing was ruining, in Vulpix's opinion, what should have been a sacred and once-in-a-lifetime moment for her and Ampharos. Intending to block her out with her blind side, she turned away, but Sneasel's annoyed back was still visible to her. Confused now, she rotated her head even farther, until she was looking directly at Ampharos.

"Something wrong, Vulpix?" asked the Electric-type, looking down at his friend. Vulpix blinked and shook her head, looking back at Sneasel and then back at Ampharos. She closed her good eye. She could still see.

"What is it?" Ampharos prodded, worried now as he saw Vulpix first looking at him with confusion, and then winking at him. Was she trying to say something? "V-hey! Vulpix!"

Vulpix had stopped right there on the steps and was now closing her eyes one at a time. Sneasel turned around as well. "have you finally lost it?" the Dark-type asked, furrowing her brow at the little fox's confusing behavior.

"I can see!" gasped Vulpix, her head darting subtly around taking in her widescreen surroundings. Ampharos and Sneasel blinked at her, and exchanged glances of what-does-that-even-mean.

"Whaaat is going on?" Sneasel finally asked semi-sarcastically, looking at Vulpix as if she had turned into a pile of sand.

"I CAN SEE OUT OF BOTH EYES!" yelled Vulpix, sounding panicked. her breathing increasing rapidly in frequency.

"You what?!" gasped Ampharos, gaping at her. It actually seemed like she was frightened, instead of exhilarated or surprised. The Electric-type contemplated trying to calm her down but he was too unsure of what was going on.

The Fox was utterly befuddled and now resigned herself to pacing back and forth on the step that she was on, "I can see out of both eyes," repeated Vulpix, now sounding beyond stunned. "I can-"

"Okay, we get the idea," cut in Sneasel, who seemed the tiniest bit frustrated, without the slightest hint of being awed or happy. "You can _see _out of _both eyes._" the Ice-type said mockingly

Now Vulpix returned the annoyance, snapping out of her surprised trance. "Well, it wouldn't be a big deal to someone who's had both their eyes for their whole life!" she snapped. Ampharos mentally headdesked. A miracle had happened right in front of their eyes, and Vulpix and Sneasel already figured out a way to turn it into an argument.

The Light pokemon put himself physically in between them for the sake of his own sanity "Vulpix, how did this happen?" he asked, hoping to defuse the upcoming fight, but Sneasel broke in before Vulpix could say anything.

"It was all that magic pink dust," she said, waving her claws around. "Isn't it obvious?". They all seemed to flash back to the tidal wave of energy that had distorted the mountaintop upon Palkia's arrival. No one completely disagreed, although Vulpix had her doubts about the "magic" part.

"You think so?" Ampharos pondered with his flipper to his chin.

"Well, nothing else big and life-changing has happened, has it?" asked Sneasel in exasperation, like everyone should have been paying more attention in class and she was the only one who knew the answer..

Ampharos paused, taking a moment to admire the monument of power they were standing on "so in other words… Palkia cured Vulpix's sight by accident?"

Vulpix felt like she was being left out of the conversation, which was really about her anyways.

"...Yeah, I guess," she put in, swishing her vision around a few more times and observing the surroundings. Now that she thought about it, everything seemed a little more vibrant, 3D, like she had never seen the world properly before. _Have I been missing this my whole life? _she wondered curiously, feeling a slight sense of disorientation as she looked down at her own feet. For the first time in her life they actually looked like they were some distance away, and that distance changed as she shuffled her paws around, investigating the phenomenon.

In the background, Sneasel and Ampharos were still talking in concerned voice patterns but with much less energy in their voice, and they stopped as soon the white fox returned her attention to them.

"Uhhh… so we should keep going, right?" Sneasel asked quickly, glancing from Ampharos to Vulpix.

"Right," agreed Ampharos equally as hurried with an unnatural head nod, and the trio set off again down the shimmering staircase. Vulpix's head corkscrewing around rapidly to observe every little detail with a new perspective.

The two concerned friends watched with worry as the fox gaped in awe at the world that had not changed for them, Sneasel was trying to hide it from Vulpix but Ampharos could clearly tell.

The Electric-type rubbed his tail anxiously _i wonder if this is permanent? if its not she will be really disappointed… devastated even._

* * *

From above, Palkia waited patiently for the trio to descend the staircase, and they were taking a long time. They stopped and seemed very concerned for a while, with expressive motions and after that, their walking pace quickened, _i wonder what that was about? _he considered,

Pivoting his head, the dragon saw the collapsed structures among other various rubble. He then turned back toward the departing group, and toyed with a notion in his mind. _They're kids, they won't mind._

With a little bit of focus the space dragon eliminated the polygonal rigidity of the stairs creating a vibrant, smooth, streamline surface… in other words, a slide.

* * *

The see through, pearl-textured stairs seamlessly melded into themselves. The textureless, minimal friction surface caused the three of them to slip against all efforts and struggles, and slide down at an accelerated pace.

Their synchronized scream of surprise, survived a brief moment before it gave way to excited shrieks and playful exuberant laughter. Sneasel used her claws to guide her way down, weaving her way in between her tractionless companions arrogantly.

The white fox carefully maneuvered herself into an upright position, wobbling precariously as the speed picked up and eventually collapsing to a flat, aerodynamic skid on her belly. Ampharos on the other had was flailing wildly, trying to grab a hold of something. the ground threatened to meet them as it appeared to approach them any instant; eventually, the Electric-type just resigned himself to bracing for impact.

The cracked mountain rocks showed through the light-permeable slide and wild pokemon gazed in awe and wonder at the mysterious structure floating just out of their reach. Flying-types and levetators landed cautiously on the structure, inspecting it with taps and rubs. Their heads snapped sideways as the three pokemon zipped by in a blur. Sneasel waved to some onlookers as she gracefully guided her own velocity and controlled her trajectory effortlessly.

The wind, that rushed past each of their faces, noticeably decreased in intensity as the curvature of the slide leveled with the slanted ground. Toward the end of the skidding motion they were unceremoniously dumped onto the surprisingly vibrant grass providing a cushioned fall onto mild slope at the base of the mountain. The edge of the forest was in sight.

"Woohoo!" Sneasel screaming while nailing her dismount watching the other two push themselves up from their crumpled positions.

Vulpix scrambled to her feet and immediately tested her new eye to see if it was alright. Seasel scoffed "are you gonna do that every time the wind blows?" she teased with a flick of her claws

The Fire-type pierced Sneasel with her annoyed multicolored eyes "we just slid down a mountain!" She almost screamed, her mood violently swinging out of happy.

"and we landed on soft grass" replied Sneasel cooly bending down and flicking the dark green blades with her claws.

Ampharos looked back to where the slide used to be and it seemed there was no sign it ever existed. While they were busy arguing he walked cautiously over and straight through the area which had previously been a glowing rainbow of color, admiring the pure power of Palkia.

The girls were about to erupt when the tree placed about 10 meters away on the treeline distorted and darkened.

Vulpix froze up, choking on her words, and forfeiting her will to breathe. A bubble of tree trunk rippled significantly, tossing aside leaves and bark for black and red fur. Sneasel followed the fox's line of sight and was confused for only a moment before smirking at Vulpix, whose eyes were too fixated to notice.

The veil dropped and the disapproving figures of the last three pokemon the trio wanted to see, were firmly planted with the utmost of disappointment plastered across each face.

"Vulpix!" The Zoroark yelled, approaching quickly on two legs. The mix of emotions on the Zoroark's face spelled the fate of the Fire-type as she stood powerfully over the white fox, with her hands firmly planted on her hips.

Vulpix's tail flattened, her ears drooped and she was making painful forced eye contact with the black and red pokemon "hi mom..." She muttered defeatedly.

Sneasel shrank back in shock as Zoroark's appearance suddenly had a new meaning for her. _oohhh... crap. _they were really screwed now. She was thankful that she didn't have any parents to scold her this time, although from the looks of it Zoroark is going to step in to do the job.

An older male ampharos and a Flaaffy hurried out of the trees, freezing as they saw the trio. "oh, ampharos!" wailed Flaaffy, running to embrace her son. "We were so worried, thank Arceus-" she caught sight of Zoroark's thunderous face and immediately retreated to stand by her mate.

No words needed to be said as Vulpix stared deep in to the wells that were Zoroark's eyes. In them swam a mix of disappointment, anger and worry. "i-i-im sorry... I-i just..." The Fire-type could not find the words to explain.

Before she could she was swept up in an unexpected hug "oh you'll be sorry alright". The fluffy, comforting hug contradicted the punishing intent in her voice. Meanwhile Ampharos stared at his parents switching between idling with his tail and rubbing the back of his neck. "um... am in trouble?" He asked with a guilty look on his face.

The noticeably taller Ampharos stood with a formal, erect posture and an angry glint in his eye "what do you think young man?" exclaimed Amphy, rather gruffly. "we expected so much better of you!"

The Flaaffy cringed and turned to her partner placing a pacifying stubby arm on his side "Amphy, don't be too harsh on-" she started, but Amphy cut her off with the wave of his flipper and removing her hand gently.

"No! this time he really has to learn his lesson!" insisted the older ampharos.

Flaaffy looked puzzled. "what do you mean, this time?" the woolen creature asked innocently. "Ampharos never misbehaves..."

While the two were discussing this, Sneasel was quietly sneaking by them, hoping to get away unnoticed.

A wall of squared stones appeared instantaneous in front of the fleeing Ice-type "_you_ aren't going anywhere." Zoroark said calmly revealing that she been keeping an eye on Sneasel this entire time. She let Vulpix down who was desperately remaining as quiet as possible. "just because..." The illusion pokemon stopped suddenly, carefully reconsidering her choice of words.

The red and black fox rebounded quickly from the social blunder quickly "you are still a part of this community, and your actions will have consequences"

Ampharos smiled uncomfortably at his parents, becoming unnerved in the face of his fathers rare form of anger "im sorry! It wont happen again! I promise" he pleaded verbally without making direct eye contact. The childish Electric-type was not used to being given such disapproving looks and awkwardly increased the rate at which he fiddled with his tail, it began glowing dimly out of reflex.

Sneasel glared at Zoroark, a snappy, indignant comeback on the tip of her tongue. _go on say it. "because you don't have any parents" that was what you were going to say right? well guess what? i don't care! screw you all!_ she held her mouth almost physically shut though, instead looking coldly away, into the wall she knew she could walk straight through and pretended not to be bothered.

"you've really let us down," said Ampharos sr. softening a little bit. "we trust you to advise yourself and to make the right decisions... but if you can't make good choices for your friends' safety..." his eyes glazed over Sneasel and looked pointedly at Vulpix "maybe it's time you should take a little break from them and think about it"

Zoroark dropped the wall illusion looking back at Vulpix, realizing the point was finally reached where she wanted to know what happened. Suddenly the appearance of the white fox shifted as the mom realized the numerous scuffs and brown blotches of dirt present around Vulpix's usually well kept fur "is there anything that you want to tell me about what went on?"

Vulpix's mood did almost a complete 180 although she did her best to contain it "Actually… we have a LOT to tell you" the Fire-type said excitedly, making the faintest of smiles.

The beads of sweat dripped from Ampharos's face as he bit his bottom lip, needless to say he was a nervous wreck. The Electric-type had obviously not had much experience with disobedience and this mild scolding felt like a prison sentence.

Sneasel almost groaned out loud. _The fool is going to go and tell her mommy everything_ The impatient, annoyed Ice-type realized. _But if i try to stop her, Zoroark will know that something big happened... hopefully if we're lucky she'll just dismiss Vulpix's story as a lie..._ Sneasel huffed and wished, really wished that none of this had ever happened. _and all for a stupid boy that looks like a girl. SO not worth it._

Flaaffy stepped in, obviously feeling that her sensitive son had had enough. "now, now. we can discuss this later," she said firmly, putting a soft hoof on her son's tall shoulders. "for now let's focus on getting back to the village." The pink and white pokemon lead her son slowly walking him forward.

Zoroark raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the reaction "so are you going to tell me or not?" She said impatiently not hiding her inner curiosity for whatever was amazing enough to flip-flop Vulpix's mood, of all pokemon.

"we will..." Vulpix looked at her friends, Sneasel was ready to explode on contact and Ampharos was one step short of a full on fetal position "well_ I'll_ explain everything when we get back" the sun was low in the sky, brushing up against the edge of Mt. Coronet... The black and red fox had decided it was best to start moving as soon as possible. "okay. Let's get going then" Zoroark spoke without much inflection in her voice then began walking, expecting to be closely followed.

Ampharos shoved the nervousness down for a moment and accepted the comforting pet from his mother and the group was now mobile. He chanced a look at Sneasel, who was visibly frustrated and the Light pokemon felt instantly like he was taking his mom and dad for granted.

* * *

The group trekked through the thickening maze-like forest. Generally their direction had been straight with only slight divergence here and there. The sun was gone and in the dim moonlight Zoroark's dark figure blinked into visibility periodically and the clustered amp trio followed her and Vulpix's every step.

"Hey! Stop right there!" a loud voice boomed out of the shadows, making everybody jump out of their skins. "Anyone coming past this point gets their hides chopped to bits" threatened the unknown voice in a menacing tone.

Sneasel peered into the shadows, seeing nothing "who are you?!" she demanded, eager to find some hapless tough guy to take some of her anger out on.

Zoroark had an idea who was behind the voice, and she hoped that she could go through the entire round trip without running into _them._ Speedily she threw an illusion over the group making it appear as if a Bibarel, Meganium and Lopunny were also present in their party, hoping that she acted quick enough and it was dark enough for that cheap trick to work. Vulpix looked to Zoroark for instructions and her mother gave her a "hold" instruction with her arm, moving it in front of her. The electric couple held hands and shrunk back a bit, but Ampharos's face hardened like he was back in the mountain cave, his eyes scanning along with everyone elses.

"you gonna have to find another way up, village folk," continued the voice loudly, and somehow in an echoing manner. "cuz this here is our territory, and we ain't lettin' nobody through. or takin' nobody's orders, little miss," the voice added obviously in Sneasel's direction. thankfully, whoever it was seemed to have fallen for the illusion, or at least was showing no sign that they noticed..

"Show yourself!" Yelled Sneasel again, not about to fear somebody she couldn't see. There was a short pause.

A rustling, and then a longer pause.

And then somebody chanced to look down.

Glaring up at them with beady red eyes was a tiny oddish, leaves fairly popping its of his head from unguided rage. It tossed the leafy cone it was previously using to project its voice and "Intruders! Strangers!" he squeaked at them. His formerly threatening voice became that of a child's who was having a temper tantrum.

Sneasel was the first to burst out laughing.

Vulpix could not resist joining, her laugh started out as a nervous giggle then turned a bit more genuine when she realized Sneasel was already drawing most of the attention to herself.

Ampharos wanted to stay focused, but the oddish was so no threatening he relaxed into the growing cacophony of chuckling, a stifled mocking giggles. Flaaffy made a loud baa-ing kind of sound that everybody realized a moment later was laughter, while Ampharos sr. chuckled silently mostly out of relief.

Zoroark pushed down the corners of her mouth with experience when she made eye contact, and managed to stay convincingly false-serious "are you the new leader i heard rumors about?" she suggested, with her travel companions in tears in the background.

The tiny oddish, although trying to look threatening at first, drew back in outrage.

"H-how dare you!" he squeaked indignantly, but the laughter of the other Pokemon blocked him out. "How dare you laugh in the face of Oddesious the new leader of The Barricade Alliance!?" He glared at Zoroark making sure her comment didn't pass his mind"Not that it's any of YOUR business if I am," he snarled, grinding his teeth together.

"I-I just can't believe it" choked Sneasel attempting to reignite the dying symphony of laughter "you thought you could-skin us!"

The offended oddish fairly exploded. His leaves popped out from his head so that he looked twice as big, which admittedly was still not very big.

"HEY!" he screamed, scooping up his leaf cone and returning his voice to a deeper octave "HEY LISTEN TO ME! STOP LAUGHING!" grumbling he flung his tiny body around and made a sharp whistling sound by pushing two of his leaves past each other. Everybody except Zoroark continued to pay him no mind.

Leaves and twigs crunched as a muscular, purple-tinted, bipedal pokemon stepped out from behind a fat, nearby tree as if he was stationed there the whole time. His arms were crossed and his face was stone serious, not affected by or joining in with the laughing.

One by one everyone who caught sight of this hulking pokemon had their lungs plugged instantly.

Those who didn't see at first were soon alerted as the beef-stick sucker punched a tree. The trunk split, and a deep divot was left in bark. All eyes were on Machoke now as the poor tree collapsed sideways creating a short crashing sound and that of an angry bird that attempted to dive bomb the Fighting-type to avenge its home.

However the Starly soon met the passive swipe of the back of the Machoke's hand and clattered to the ground. The bodyguard did not spare even one look as the bird cursed him out loudly and fluttered away upset and defeated.

Zoroark was wary after the show skill, _a Fighting-type? This is bad...And who knows what else is out there?_

Vulpix thought back to mt. coronet and the medicham, a rare surge of confidence surged through her and she assumed a fighting stance prepared to defend Zoroark since a fight was likely to occur.

Ampharos's newfound instincts kicked in, preparing to be diplomatic in any way he could "we're just passing through" the Electric-type announced firmly "just let us go and there won't have to be any fighting"

"I don't think that's what I heard you say a moment ago," sneered the apparent leader of the Barrier Alliance, advancing a step forward. "If you said there was no need for fighting, I must have missed it. You all were laughing too loud!" The fiercely proud little Pokemon glared at the group.

Sneasel felt the need to step in "We really don't want to fight, dinker," she said in what she imagined to be a placating tone. "It's us against just the two of you, so it's not a fair fight anyways."

Everybody in the group facepalmed because obviously Sneasel had said exactly the wrong thing.

The oddish sneared victoriously "An unfair fight indeed- unfair to you!" Squealed Oddesious. "Find another way home or prepare to get beaten to a slimy puddle of Muk piss!" The Poison-Type slapped his leaves together sending little warning puffs of power off into the air, in a practiced was to show off his threat level.

"Sneasel!" Vulpix and Ampharos cried in unison. The adults in the group took note of their prepared disapproval.

Zoroark acknowledged that speed was the way to get out of this mess, but communicating that to the whole group secretly and at once, was impossible. The fox guessed that maybe a dozen other pokemon _could be_ out there but how many actually are, if any at all? _Are we really the ones that are outnumbered? Are we able to take that risk?_. She glanced down at Vulpix assuming that a fight like this would destroy her, and must be avoided.

The white fox saw the look of pity and overprotection and scowled mouthing "i can fight" soundlessly to Zoroark. In response, the pure Dark-type shook her head as subtly as possible, it was too dangerous for her.

Ampharos returned his attention to the boiling leader "what do you want from us exactly?" Stepping out from behind his parents.

"We want your apologies and a vase of flowers" snarled Oddesious sarcastically. "Just leave us alone for once, ye namby pambies! We don't want you pokin' around our territory! Not when there ain't enough for us all to eat as is." His beady eyes glared straight through to Ampharos "so if you were getting any ideas, you better squish em right now, because there ain't enough to go around over here!"

The Electric-type swished around Oddesious's words in his mind for a second "if you want us to leave then why do you look like you are ready to fight?". His question rang in the leader's ears, and Ampharos's parents were surprised in their bashful son's confidence and calm in the situation.

Oddesious scowled " Cause i've been waiting for a chance to pummel you straight into the ground and at least now i can say i gave you fair warning" his vocal bending of the rules rubbed Zoroark the wrong way and she remembered why their rivalry exists.

Sneasel had her mouth open, looking around for support in her opinion "What part of this is fair!?"

"SHUT UP!" The oddish shook obviously unopen to reason.

Suddenly Zoroark remembered her illusion, and when she looked back only Meganium was there and the imitation Grass-type looked frozen before the adult fox returned her focus to it _crap! When did this happen, two of them disappeared!_ she thought furiously.

However something came to her in the thought frenzy, "hey Oddesious" she called waiting for his full attention.

"How do you know my-you know what, never mind. Make it quick, because you've got five minutes to be a mile away from here" snapped Oddesious, giving a significant look to Machoke who slammed his fights together in agreement. Luckily the non-observant Grass-type hadn't been looking too hard at the other Pokemon Zoroark had conjured.

Zoroark smirked under false contentment "do you remember the other two members of our group?" She took a minute to paused while he glared back "well while we were laughing, they left to go tell the other village members about your little ambush. Soon a whole army of pokemon will be here to take you out!" She raised her voice confidently.

The Machoke seemed _very _interested in this, lifting a meaty finger to count the members of the group again. His eyes widened, as he triple checked to make extra sure he was right. _there are less than when i was behind the tree_

"W-w-what?" Oddesious stammered in a failed attempt to appear unfazed, before immediately becoming angry again. "You're lying! Aren't you!" he raged once more, turning to Machoke "you were watching them, did any of the little rattata sneak off?!"

The bodyguard did a double take, unwilling to divulge what he knew, but like he was instructed beforehand _"any important information must be relayed privately."_ The Machoke knelt down dutifully and whispered as quietly as possible into Oddesious's ear.

The oddish turned a rather unpleasant shade of light blue-green as he listened to the Machoke.

"W-well," he blustered, "I would stay to give you sneaks the beating you deserve, but I got important aff-hairs to take care of!" He glared at Zoroark "and believe me, you sly fox, you have not seen the end of me!"

With that, the two turned and -it could only be described as "scrammed", although Machoke seemed incredibly ticked off at the notion.

The tension hung until the two disappeared completely, there were no other rustlings in the area which either meant that the ambush was full of expert stealth pokemon... Or it really was a bluff.

The Meganium image flickered and wavered out of existence as a sigh rolled through the group, ending at Sneasel

Vulpix whipped herself around instantly reminded of what happened during the confrontation "Sneasel! Can you EVER shut your gigantic mouth for two seconds?! What if there _were_ more pokemon and you taunted him like that?" The white fox ranted all the way across the silent onlooking group.

Ampharos saw the look on the Dark-type's face, and acted too cut the fuse short of exploding by shooting a thin bolt of warning electricity at both of their feet "not now" he warned, then softened to appease their argument "can we at least make it back to the village before you try to kill each other?" With a compassionate smile tossed between the two.

Ampharos Sr. and Flaaffy watched their son discipline his two friends, looking both surprised and pleased as Ampharos and sharing their approval with a nod to each other. Also they observed Sneasel and Vulpix effortlessly interacted among each other. Flaaffy murmured something in Amphy's ear and Amphy closed his eyes and again, nodded.

"Fine," Sneasel muttered, rolling her eyes. "Fine, fine fine fiiine, fine," she added in a mutter under her breath.

Zoroark manually closed her jaw,_ did my timid little girl really just... Yell, at someone?_. Over her entire life Vulpix was never once that expressive to anyone but her, but one day of reckless freedom managed to change that? The pure Dark-type shook her head, contemplating what to do, and decided it was best to wait until she heard the whole story to act on this new, apparent benefit of the trip.

Ampharos was a bit embarrassed when he caught everyone looking at him. He was glad when the moment didn't last for more than a few seconds.

"lets move" Zoroark announced, not bothering to whisper anymore, with the worst of their worries behind them. The group assumed its previous positioning with Zoroark in the lead.

They all continued to travel in relative silence, with only Amphy and Flaaffy's constant background burbling filling up the empty spaces between footsteps. Sneasel trailed along many steps behind them all, studiously ignoring Ampharos's and Vulpix's looks. _we're all in trouble here. i'm not going to be friendly towards them! _She was illogically pissed off that her friends could be subject to punishment so easily.

The trees came to a sudden stop and Zoroark peeked through the brush, observed the quiet village and the noiseless, motionless surroundings, then turned back to usher her followers through.

The adult fox made eye contact with each of the teens, Vulpix seemed elated, Ampharos seemed even tempered with a little bit of pride and Sneasel had long since reached her boiling point. How they wound up so divided was beyond her expertise.

They all approached a gate, tall enough that Zoroark, standing at full height could not see directly over. "Flaaffy you have the key right?" Zoroark prompted as they stood in front of a locked portion of the seemingly endless, wooden fence.

"Yes, of course!" Flaaffy rummaged around in the fluffy scruff of fur on her neck and pulled out a slightly rusty old key, passing it to Zoroark.

The leader of the group took it gently, clicking the key into the lock hearing the loud tumble of the mechanism. The gate swung wide, allowing all to pass through at once. The black and red fox tucked the key into her own hair, intent to taking it back to (city hall)

"You found them!" A feminine voice announced from the shadows.

All three of the younger Pokemon stiffened at the voice. They knew what was coming and had feared this very reaction since their capture at the mountain. A veritable crowd of Pokemon streamed out from behind the houses, rushing towards Vulpix, Ampharos, and Sneasel.

"Oh dears, you had us so worried!"

"How dare you go and frighten your poor mother that way?!"

"Are you hurt?!"

The faceless voices threw their comments all at once at the group as if someone was being interviewed by the press. Ampharos smiled nervously "we're fine, we're fine" he insisted, hoping that was enough to appease the villagers. The singular wave of concern was over as they turned their attention toward the parents, for real answers.

"Nobody is hurt," Amphy stepped up, pressing back the group of pokemon who were waiting all night for their return. Some still looked worried; a few appeared outraged. "We're going to deal with this in the morning. Thank you, everyone, for your help searching."

_everybody was searching for us?_ thought Sneasel in disbelief.

"You're telling us to wait until morning to talk to them?!" one Pokemon yelled from the back.

"Yes." Amphy nodded firmly. "Everybody's scared, exhausted, and it's late. Go to sleep." With that blunt sentence, he, Flaaffy and Zoroark began shepherding the three teens towards Zoroark's house.

The group walked slowly over the gravel, crunching closer to the neat house. The adults planning how to react to the children. And the trio trying to figure out what to say to each other and how to phrase exactly what they encountered.

They approached the door of the rather simple house. The grass was in line, the Wood wasn't warped or changed in many ways, and everything seemed tidy. Zoroark jumped out ahead and grabbed hold of the handle protruding from the smooth wooden door. She slid it to the side and invited the guests inside with a gesture of her hand.

Amphy and Flaaffy continued to shepherd the three unwilling teens into the house. Sneasel dragged her feet, almost scratching their porch coming in last, while Ampharos seemed to feel it was his duty to make up for causing so much trouble, so he was being trying to keep everyone on their best behavior. To do this he nudged Sneasel repeatedly until she noticed what she was doing wrong and lifted her while on the inside carpet.

They made their way into the small, cosy house and Zoroark led them over to a spot on the floor where they could sit on some mats. Feeling she needed to act as a good hostess the Dark-type poured some water from their stockpile into some cups, and brought it over to the living room table. Zoroark exhaled loudly after finally sitting down and leaned forward, looking directly at Vulpix. "so"

The dim moonlight streaming through the windows was soon drowned out by the electric rays of the Ampharos duo casting their dim light across the group spread across the living room..

As everyone settled, a growing air of not knowing where to start filled to the room. Sneasel awkwardly walked up and grabbed herself a cup, quickly shrinking back to her position on the wall before taking a sip.

Zoroark sighed "well you said i wouldn't believe it, so go ahead, give me your best shot"

Vulpix turned to Sneasel for some help but found her looking away. Then she tried Ampharos who gave her the go ahead with a nod. The Fire-type turned back to her mother. She looked nervous to admit what happened, yet at the same time, she couldn't wait to tell her story of triumph and adventure.

"We just had the most _incredible_ experience..."


End file.
